


Damn the Dark, Damn the Light

by MiraMeraki



Category: Winx Club
Genre: Comfort/Angst, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Mentions of Grooming, Psychological Trauma, cross season continuity?, dealing with s2 trauma, in my Winx Club fanfic?, it's more likely than you think, mentions of statutory rape
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-19
Updated: 2020-06-19
Packaged: 2021-03-04 07:34:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,545
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24800026
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MiraMeraki/pseuds/MiraMeraki
Summary: “You don’t understand, Professor; this sort of thing happens to me all the time. My power used to only come out when I was angry, raised an army of the dead, created stronger dark magic than Headmistress Griffin has ever seen in a student, and now it’s giving me weird feelings about the man who’s terrorizing the entire Magic Dimension. I don’t think it’s just coincidence anymore, because it was too easy to turn evil!” Her white-knuckled hands gripped her sides, as though she expected the evil half of her to try splitting her body down the middle at any moment. “It was too easy,” she whispered.Afraid that her newfound connection with Baltor could lead to a repeat of last semester's mistakes, Bloom finds solidarity with the one person she's been avoiding at Alfea for weeks: the real Professor Avalon. [post-3x07/AU 3x26]
Relationships: Bloom/Valtor | Baltor (Winx Club), past Bloom/Avalon
Comments: 6
Kudos: 91
Collections: Favourite Fanfictions





	Damn the Dark, Damn the Light

**Author's Note:**

> Guess that upcoming Netflix series is bringing all the old Winx fans out of the woodworks, huh?
> 
> Please look at the tags before reading, because this fic does make brief, non-graphic references to past statutory rape and related subjects. Not enough to warrant the rape tag, in my humble opinion, as it's never explicitly stated, merely implied, but do tread cautiously if that is a difficult subject for you. I've had this fic idea saved in the notes app on my phone for a couple of years, actually, but now I finally feel comfortable with writing and posting it. I hope I've approached the subject with care and respect.
> 
> I'm going off the 4kids' portrayal of Bloom and Avalon's relationship, which I understand is watered down from the RAI English dub but probably a tad more fleshed out than the Nick dub, so depending on which camp you come from, there may be some inconsistencies.
> 
> If you're here for the Sparxshipping, it's buried under nearly 5k of Bloom and the real Avalon coping with the shit from the end of season 2, but it's there, trust me. :)

It was more than a connection. It was an answer.

Bloom understood the uniqueness of her power. Unlike her friends who drew magic from the realm-wide web or the ocean waters or the shining sun, she was both the recipient and the source of her Dragon Fire. It did not envelop her but lived within her, an isolated beacon that did not need to resonate with a wider world beyond.

And yet, somehow, against all odds, she had met that wider world for the first time on Tides, with seawater burning in her lungs and her eyes. At first she thought the feeling of flames licking her insides was just the gallons of water she had swallowed, but when _he_ knelt down, held a lock of her hair as though he didn’t think it could be real, and absentmindedly brushed his hand against her forehead, she was lost. Charred, melted, consumed, and desperate to get out of her unbearably hot skin, out of every layer in between her Flame and his. She had honestly believed that her Dragon Fire, unable to tolerate the barest separation from its other half, had burned away her body, leaving her floating and incorporeal and very much alive. 

Looking back, it amazed her that the whole experience must have taken only a second, if that. She wasn't sure if it felt more like getting drunk or dying. She remembered the flicker behind his eyes, the breath hitching in his throat and momentarily breaking his illusion of smug superiority, and wondered if the connection—if she could even settle for such a mundane word—had also burned him alive. Just the thought of it felt devastating.

_“Don’t be scared of me, Bloom; I don’t want to harm you. I only wanted to see you face-to-face.”_

Bloom had hoped that a nice long stroll would help to clear her head after her conversation with Faragonda, but the afternoon sun had already begun to dip past the school’s tallest spires and she still felt restless. Walking aimlessly through Alfea’s quad, teeming with students relaxing for the weekend, Bloom allowed herself to notice the thick, heady soup of magical energy in the air that was so commonplace it had become something like background music. How foreign it all felt, now that she had experienced something so bone-chillingly familiar. 

An answer, yes, that was a good word for it. Like receiving a text message back or a song whistled in reply. Loathsome as it was to think, his Flame was her ocean, her earth, her sun. Only distorted. A song with all the notes rearranged into something sinister, or a sun that blinded instead of nurtured. _An ember mixed with darkness…._

A shudder passed through her body as she fell under the shadow of the arch the led into the Dragon Fire wing. “He saved my life, Kiko,” she murmured, pressing the bunny close to her chest. “That has to count for something, right?”

With her free hand, she took from her messenger bag the book that Faragonda had shown her. Her lips, pursed in thought, were reflected in the golden embellishments on the cover. “He fought the Company of Light. He fought Oritel and Miriam. But if the girls and I run into him again, I don’t know what I’ll do. Because just being there in each other’s presence, I felt dizzy, like I was going to be sick or pass out, and just… there was so much _hurting_ , and I know he felt it, too.” Bloom stopped herself there, before she ended up sounding like some of the trashy romance novels that Stella had given her for Christmas. Another good reason to keep these kinds of thoughts to Kiko, not the girls. Because Bloom would bet her brand new set of paints from Mike and Vanessa that such a conversation with Stella would go down a road that ignored obvious facts like _escaped convict_ and _power-hungry egomaniac_ and _personal vendetta against her family and her planet._

…Also, Baltor looked to be at least forty. Bloom wasn’t an _idiot._

So of course, when she turned the corner she came across the one person to make her stomach immediately knot with pangs of complete idiocy.

Bloom had inadvertently managed to avoid coming face-to-face with the real Professor Avalon ever since escaping Realix. Since there had been so little time before the end of last year, he had only just begun teaching this semester, much of which Bloom had missed thanks to their mission to Tides. Even then, she had her suspicions that Faragonda had arranged for her class schedule to not include seminars with the real Professor Avalon.

Avalon was the first to recover from the awkward silence. “Good afternoon, Bloom,” he said, tucking away the papers he had been reading while walking down the hallway. “I’m glad to see that you and your friends returned safely from Tides.” He kept his voice neutral and guarded, careful to avoid any trace of the disarming charm associated with her Avalon.

Bloom mentally smacked herself; for the last time, this _was_ Professor Avalon. To everyone else, it seemed, there was no problem in accepting that Darkar’s lackey from last year was just a cunning imposter, nothing more. _Her_ Avalon was therefore supposed to be an illusion, a lie, even though a lie couldn’t possibly remember the name of her favorite flower, or joke about Grieselda’s latest panic attack over a group of wild freshmen, or pull her into a joyful embrace after her first vision of Oritel and Miriam….

Her grip tightened on the book; if only learning about her birth parents didn’t always go hand in hand with tragedy. “Goodness,” Avalon remarked once he noticed the heavy tome, “I hope that’s not for another of Professor Arianna’s 50-page ‘welcome back’ papers.” After a moment’s pause, he risked a bemused smile.

“With how much class I’ve missed, I’m sure she’ll have a special one for me,” Bloom laughed nervously. “No, it’s a book that Miss Faragonda showed me. It’s about my birth parents… and Baltor.”

“Ah yes, Faragonda gave us the full briefing, though I can’t say it was pleasant. I take it you confronted one another during your time there?”

Bloom nodded as she tried to ignore the way the orange sunlight poured through the windows and made Avalon’s glossy black hair shine. “I guess I’m not surprised that we met, given our… connection.” Her eyes fell shyly to the faded blue carpet.

Avalon’s storm grey eyes softened. “And that troubles you, I imagine.”

“It was…” _Incredible. Terrifying. Incredibly terrifying._ “…strong,” she finished lamely. “Stronger than I would have expected, but it shouldn’t have been, right? I mean, he’s definitely evil, but if my power has such a strong link to his, then doesn’t that mean I’m also…?” 

“A magical creature, just as influenced by her powers as anyone else?” When Bloom didn’t raise her eyes, he placed a light hand on her shoulder. “Were you planning on bringing that book back to the library? On your way, I think there’s something you should see. That is, of course,” he added, pulling his hand away, “only if you’d like to.”

“Sure, Professor, I… I think that’d be alright.” Bloom smiled, a bit surprised by her own answer. She tucked Kiko and the book into her bag and followed him to the grand spiral staircase that wound all the way to the top of the tower in a dizzying swirl of sky blue flanked by delicate vines of gold twisted into handrails. When rosy orange light poured from the many arched windows at certain angles, the whole thing looked like tongues of fire on water.

“I imagine you haven’t had the chance to come here often,” said Avalon as Bloom’s wide eyes filled with the beautiful colors before her. They walked a few paces apart, so that any of the remaining stragglers heading for the sunny quad could easily pass between them. “It’s a shame that so many of your classes last year were switched to combat and self-defense, but even then, most of the theory and history classes held here are for seniors. As long as we can go another year without a full-fledged assault on Alfea, I hope that more students will find the opportunity to see all the beautiful artwork that went into this wing. Such a marvelous sight, isn’t it?”

_“It’s taking all your power and giving it to me, Bloom. Isn’t it marvelous?”_

_She whipped around and immediately wished she hadn’t. Angry red scars adorned his once beautiful face as he threw her against the bubble and held her there, waiting until her screaming dissipated into exhaustion, and she fell like a ragdoll into his arms. Afterwards there was nothing, save for the dim awareness of angelic wings, so beautiful, even as they took her down, down…._

Avalon noticed the lack of footsteps beside him, and he took a few respectful steps backward to let Bloom catch her breath and return to the present. “I know how difficult it must be for you to remember,” Avalon murmured in a low voice as he stared out a window without seeing a thing. “It pains me, to be a reminder for you. Even memories of Shadowhaunt deserve to perish along with the rest of that horrid place.”

Bloom’s eyes widened; everyone else had been so careful to avoid even mentioning the place around her. “You were trapped there for months,” she breathed. “How did you even hang on?”

“I actually appreciated the stretches of time when I was forgotten and left to die.” The sound of muffled laughter coming from outside fell like a foreign language on the ears of the former prisoners. “They allowed me to plan my escape, to indulge in hope. The lord of Shadowhaunt only came to me twice, each with the same purpose, and I can say that even a day in his presence would have been more intolerable than my entire imprisonment.” 

She discovered that they were walking together again, though it took her longer than she thought to find her voice. “What did he want from you?”

At that, he cast his eyes away from her and up to the high-vaulted ceiling. “Bloom, what happened at the end of your sophomore year was a very traumatic experience; I feel I should be the last person discussing these kinds of things with you.”

The professionalism in his voice hurt, especially when she had heard him be so much _more_ , and the words were out of her mouth before she could think. “Professor, you don’t have to be frightened of me. I… basically tried to forget about Shadowhaunt, about everything that happened with me and the… other you, but I can’t undo what happened, either. Maybe it’s a good idea for me to come to terms with last year before facing the next big threat to the Magical Dimension again. Maybe we can help each other.”

Bloom looked down and saw her hand wrapped around the cuff of his white suit, closing the distance that Avalon had sought to put between them.

_“Now, Bloom, let’s try to have some level of decorum,” Avalon laughed as she chased him around the astronomy tower after it was clear that neither of them had come there to star-gaze. His long braid fluttered agonizingly out of reach until she grabbed the end and wound it through her fingers like a chain, like a promise._

She pulled her hand away as if the memory burned. 

“I... I don’t want to upset you, Bloom. However, if you would truly like to know….” He breathed deeply, and Bloom watched the dust motes surrounding them distort under the pressure of an anti-eavesdropping spell. “I was the test subject for Darkar’s curse. The first time was to practice for the cloud spirit that took my place. The second time was in preparation for you.”

When Bloom remained speechless, he continued. “I believe that Darkar would have liked to forego the imposter and use me instead. However, as you’ve experienced yourself, being under the influence of dark magic tends to change one’s physical appearance, and… well, it would have been a dead giveaway if I had walked into Alfea looking like I did after he cursed me. A cloud spirit could blend in more easily; they have no corporeal form, so shape-shifting and mimicry comes as second nature to them.” 

“And… and the second time?” The question stuck in Bloom’s throat like viscous poison.

“The second time… I believe he was testing me. To see if someone could break free, to see how powerful the spell was by itself, even before the runes that would make it unbreakable. It took Arcadia knows how long for the spell to take complete control, and longer than that until I was able to break through, but by that time he must have been satisfied with the results, since I woke up alone. I didn’t know what to make of the meeting. I thought that the curse on the cloud spirit had perhaps weakened or broken, and so it would be the best time to escape. If I had known his intentions then, I would have fought harder to overcome its power. I fear that by succumbing to the curse, I allowed you to endure the same.”

Avalon tensed, half-expecting screams and angry fireballs. But Bloom just shook her head, locks of red hair floating down her shoulders and shielding her face like a curtain. “It took him just seconds to change me.” Her shaking voice reminded Avalon of one of his students from Frost after he had rescued her from the meters of snow that had buried her home and all else within it. Numb, hollow, devoid of life. “I wasn’t able to fight it at all.”

There was sternness alongside concern as he stepped towards her. “Bloom, you know that doesn’t say anything about your capabilities—“

“Yeah, well, maybe it should!” An inferno blazed in her blue eyes, even as wet droplets clung to her eyelashes. “You don’t understand, Professor; this sort of thing happens to me all the time. My power used to only come out when I was angry, raised an army of the dead, created stronger dark magic than Headmistress Griffin has ever seen in a student, and now it’s giving me weird feelings about the man who’s terrorizing the entire Magic Dimension. I don’t think it’s just coincidence anymore, because it was too easy to turn evil!” Her white-knuckled hands gripped her sides, as though she expected the evil half of her to try splitting her body down the middle at any moment. “It was too easy,” she whispered. 

_“I won’t turn evil, I won’t….”_

_“Silly girl, you did once before.” The fake Professor Avalon leaned against the altar and watched her struggle in amusement. “Don’t you remember how it felt when I put you under his power? The magic clouding your mind and carrying you away, it didn’t even hurt. Now this,”—He traced the places where the metal straps had chafed her wrists—“this hurts, doesn’t it?”_

_Bloom closed her eyes and turned away, not wanting to hear the familiar rumbling laugh when he knew he was right. “We don’t need you to be willing, you know. We just need you unable to resist. Admit it, you’re already exhausted from trying to put up a fight, and we’ve barely begun with you; how much longer do you think you can keep this up?” He leaned down, his wings still painfully bright beneath her eyelids, and cupped her face in his hands. “You may not believe this, little Charmix fairy, but I’m the closest thing to a friend you have right now. Unless you’d like those witches to come back and persuade you some more? Or better yet, if_ he _returned?”_

_Yet another wave of sickening negative energy washed over her shaking body. “I did mean it when I said you were beautiful that night,” he said as he played with a lock of her hair. “Such a shame if someone else came along and ruined that pretty face of yours.”_

_“I_ trusted _you,” Bloom insisted, choosing to blame her watering eyes on the brazier spitting fire next to him. “I trusted you with everything. How could you?”_

_Avalon chuckled and let her head drop back onto the hard stone. “Soon enough, you’ll understand all too well.”_

_He took a step back to watch her at last fall completely limp, vacant eyes staring into the flames. When he smiled, his teeth were long and sharp and deadly. “My lord, she’s ready for you to begin.”_

Sensing distress, Kiko poked his head out of the messenger bag. Bloom managed a smile as she lifted him up so that his wide brown eyes met hers. “Thanks, Kiko,” she murmured as he scrambled to perch himself on her shoulder where he could press his soft blue fur against her cheek. 

“Do you know why it takes both darkness and light to enter Realix?” Avalon asked Bloom, who quietly shook her head. “The power that resides there is the most feared and hidden ancient magic in the realms because it grants the wielder complete control over both the light and dark forces that govern our universe. I don’t know how aware you were of what was happening, but for a terrifying moment, _you_ held the Ultimate Power in your hands. Whether you had begun as a fairy, a witch, or something darker wouldn’t have mattered, because you would have passed beyond them all. You possessed something that very few magical creatures realize they have: a choice. And do you know what you chose?” 

The warmth of his hands on her shoulders was matched by the warmth of his smile. “You chose to set yourself free, to surrender the Ultimate Power and remain an ordinary fairy. Do you know how remarkable that is?”

“I….” Bloom struggled to think back to that moment in Realix, but whether as a side effect of Darkar’s magic or her own subconscious suppressing the trauma, her mind drew a complete blank. “I don’t know how I did that,” she whispered. “It was Sky who saved me. If he hadn’t been there, I wouldn’t have been able to break free.” 

“It was Sky who called out to you, but the power you used to return to him was all your own,” Avalon corrected her. He led the way up the spiral staircase once more, but the shimmering dust motes surrounding them reassured Bloom that the anti-eavesdropping spell traveled with them too. 

“Sometimes I feel like I don’t understand my power at all,” Bloom confessed. “It doesn’t erupt out of me anymore, but I’m still not great at controlling it. Avalon was the first person who made me feel like I was actually starting to understand it, but then….” She hung her head in shame. _It wasn’t real, you idiot. None of it was._

Bloom expected a reprimand for calling the imposter by its stolen name, but when she met Avalon’s storm grey eyes, they held nothing but sympathy. “That is why all fairies are here, Bloom, to become better attuned to their Winx. Your circumstances are unique, yes, but not insurmountable. The professors are here to guide you on your journey, but only you can unlock your magic’s full potential.”

 _I’d need a planet first,_ she thought bitterly.

They stayed quiet until they reached a shimmering pink door laced with golden vines. Without a word, Avalon opened it and ushered Bloom into the most beautiful room she had ever seen at Alfea: the Dragon Fire Wing.

The circular glass walls offered an unobstructed view of the campus’ familiar pink walls, the surrounding Enchanted Forest, and even a few hovercrafts flying toward the distant outline of Magix’s gleaming skyscrapers. It would have been a sight to take Bloom’s breath away had she not first noticed the glittering mosaic above her. Tens of thousands of stained glass shards bright enough to send a kaleidoscope of color and light flitting across the white marble floor. Metallic gold circles for each of the planets of the Magical Universe, a deep navy blue as a starry backdrop, and an array of reds, oranges, and yellows coalescing into the image of the Great Dragon burning bright in the heavens.

“The Dragon Fire makes up the very fabric of our world,” said Avalon, his voice jolting Bloom back to reality. “To it we owe all light, all life in the Magical Dimension. As one of only two magical beings to currently wield it, you carry a power that surpasses comprehension. But although the Dragon Fire can be manipulated for evil purposes, it does not stem from darkness. How could it,” he continued, gesturing to the mosaic, "when it created all this?"

“But it can be corrupted, like with Baltor,” Bloom fired back. “What if the same thing happened to me? I can’t even remember what happened in Shadowhaunt after the curse. What if there’s still dark magic there?” 

“Believe me when I say that even if Darkar hadn’t needed you untainted in order to activate the Codex, he would have been woefully incapable of cursing your Dragon Fire,” Avalon assured her. “But you don’t need me to tell you that. You can feel it for yourself, can’t you?” 

It was true; the familiar warmth in her palms and shoulder blades from which her wings sprouted felt the same as ever. Dark magic always carried with it a tightness in her chest and a disgusting metallic taste in her mouth, neither of which she could sense now. Still, she had been fooled once before. “It still doesn’t explain why I reacted to Baltor’s power like that.”

“Oh?” Avalon clasped his hands behind his back. “And what was your reaction, exactly?”

Bloom looked out over the sea of evergreen trees stretching into the horizon, but her mind was still adrift on the brimy grey waters of Tides. “It was overwhelming. I felt a side to my power I’ve never felt before. I was scared, and I wanted to run away, but there was also this… _pull_. It was stronger than anything I’ve ever felt.”

Avalon smiled. “You know, Bloom, you’ve just described how it feels for an Enchantix fairy to ascend.”

Bloom stared at him in disbelief, but Avalon merely beckoned her to one of the periwinkle blue benches surrounding the perimeter of the domed observatory. “At the end of the year, your friend Layla will become the guardian fairy of her realm. In doing so, she will gain an acute awareness of her bond to the waters of Tides. Of course, she will resonate with the oceans teeming with life, the coursing power, the serenity, the overwhelming vastness of water stretching past the horizon. But she will also realize, with frightening intensity, the wild tempests that bring crashing waves and unrelenting floods.” He gazed out at the Enchanted Forest with the same distant expression Bloom had moments ago, and she wondered what memories lay behind his weary eyes. “There is a potential for darkness and destruction in all forms of magic. There is no ‘triumphing’ over evil, at least not for long. The coexistence between good and evil is something all fairies must realize before ascending into their final forms.” 

“But I’m never going to reach my full potential,” Bloom despaired. “He’s taken all that away from me.”

“You will make for a lovely Enchantix fairy when your time is right,” insisted Avalon. “Much of an Enchantix fairy’s power comes not from her home planet, but from herself. Baltor may have destroyed your home, but he cannot touch the power which resides in you. If you felt overwhelmed by a mere ember of the Dragon Fire, you can only imagine how his essence must be consumed by your presence. Stripped of his stolen spells, he doesn’t stand a chance against you, Bloom.”

Bloom’s hands curled into fists at her sides. “I hate having a connection with him. He killed my birth parents; I shouldn’t have to feel _attracted_ to him.”

“Bloom, I don’t think anyone expects you to enter a serious relationship with an escaped convict from Omega, Dragon Fire connection or no,” said Avalon bemusedly. “Otherwise, we’d have a rather irate Prince of Eraklyon, would we not?”

Bloom didn’t share in his amusement. “I liked the other Avalon, too,” she admitted in a hushed voice. “I liked him a lot. I know that half the school had a crush on him, but it felt like we had something more. At first I was grateful that he wanted to spend his time helping learn about my birth parents, but then I was grateful that he wanted to spend time with _me_. I adored him, I told him things I haven’t even told Sky, and I… I let him….” She felt her cheeks burn, and she turned her face away before this Avalon (the new Avalon, the stranger Avalon, the _not-mine_ Avalon) could see her cry.

There was no one else in the observation room, a fact that filled Bloom with relief and guilt simultaneously. Even with the anti-eavesdropping spell in place, she still would have been mortified if any of the other students found her like this, blubbering over the henchman of an enemy she had already vanquished. 

She knew the cloud spirit had died along with the rest of Shadowhaunt. She _wanted_ him to die for what he did to her. But much like Shadowhaunt, his memory lingered. And if she was honest with herself, in spite of the betrayal, the abject horror, the unending shame, she didn’t know if she wanted all those memories to die with him.

Which is why when Avalon placed a gentle hand on her shoulder, she flinched as if she had been touched by a ghost. “Sorry,” she mumbled as he quickly withdrew his hand. “I know I shouldn’t be like this. I was stupid and naive, and I never should have thought—”

“You were a child,” said Avalon in that soft, reassuring voice she had missed more than she would ever admit to herself, "and he was a malignant creature sent to lure you into complacency. The other professors should have noticed; they should have intervened sooner. You cannot blame yourself for not suspecting an enemy within our walls.”

“Maybe, but I still can’t let myself fall for the same trap,” she insisted as she dug her nails into the denim of her ruffled miniskirt. “I can’t start feeling things for Baltor like I did for Avalon. I can’t keep getting… _seduced_ to the Dark Side.”

Avalon shook his head. “You are a fairy of light and healing; you’re naturally drawn to those who are lost in the dark and hurting. The Avalon you first encountered took advantage of your nature, but that was _his_ wrongdoing, not yours. It should not make you change who you are.”

Bloom’s eyes went wide. “You think Baltor's hurt?”

“In a sense, yes,” Avalon replied simply. “He is a plaything of the Ancestresses, forced to endure their every whim. Now, the question of whether he would willingly align himself with their cause if given the choice is a complicated one, I admit. However, I imagine that you more than most people can empathize with his plight.”

Bloom frowned. Faragonda hadn’t gone into much detail about Baltor’s origins; perhaps she didn’t know herself. Was it possible that Baltor had also been chained to an altar and tortured for days on end before having the core of who he was ripped away forever? “Faragonda says he wants to destroy me. Even Baltor said that we were destined to fight each other. See which part of the Flame can survive the other.” 

Avalon looked up at the stained glass ceiling, and when Bloom followed his line of sight, she noticed a detail that she had previously overlooked: a tiny, white, winged figure floating above the Great Dragon's head, leading it across the stars. “Baltor may come from darkness, but you, a self-chosen fairy of light and goodness, are the wellspring of his magic. All that he is finds its source in you. He may be coerced into destroying the power which completes him, but he knows that doing so could very well destroy him, too. His quest for power is ruthless, yet he will remain a slave until the day that someone comes along to snuff him out of existence.”

Though they had only just met, the mere thought of a universe without Baltor was enough to turn her blood to ice. "Then what am I supposed to do, Professor?"

This would not be the last time that Bloom would discuss her role in the war against Baltor. Faragonda, Griffin, Saladin, the Nymphs of Magix, the Council of Elders; everyone from the first fairy in the universe on down would try to impart their own words of wisdom to guide her in the fight ahead. But out of all of them, only Avalon’s words would stay with her until the very end:

“Someday, Baltor will find himself in the same throes of darkness that you and I have faced, and when that time comes, you will have to make another choice. You chose the path of light for yourself, and now, only you can decide whether Baltor deserves that same chance.” 

* * *

It was more than an answer. It was completeness.

As she opened her eyes to the swirling darkness, she felt as though she was floating in the eye of a storm, and on the barest edges of her perception there whipped a raging tornado of wild, untamed fire. She shivered, not because of any chill that the astral projection of herself could feel, but because of the thrilling intimacy of that space, like listening to someone else’s heartbeat just bare inches away and understanding that they were every bit as lost and loved and real as you.

At first, Bloom thought that the steady thud of footsteps behind her was just that, a distant heartbeat, until she heard the voice that for the past year had haunted her in sometimes not unwelcome ways: “Well, I must say I’m impressed. A fitting end to all this, isn’t it, just your Flame and mine?”

Relief flooded her when she turned around and saw that he was in the form of a wizard again. Singed burgundy coat and ashy smudges against the pale skin of his angled face, but otherwise her fairy dust had worked in breaking the Ancestresses’ curse. Without a word, she began to fly towards him. 

Baltor crossed his arms, heat beginning to build unseen beneath his gloves. “No friends to help you here, Bloom,” he sneered as the twisted ends of her hair swept along an unseen floor that had little more substance than smoke. “Just a lost princess of a lost kingdom she doesn’t even remember, guarding an ancient magic with broken powers she can’t control. But considering that I’m feeling lenient today, I’ll give you one chance to leave my inner sanctum before I _make_ you.”

Her only reply was the faint tinkling of fairy dust falling from her gently beating wings that propelled her forward. Pushing through the dark plumes of smoke, they shimmered with a light that had no origin, except maybe from a strange part deep inside of herself that she hadn’t even noticed before her ascension. She remembered once, one sleepless night out of many, how she had transformed in her dorm room just to look at herself in the mirror, to recognize herself beneath the silk ruffles of her dress and the glittering gemstones on her sandals that marked her as an Enchantix fairy, charged to protect a planet now far beyond protection. 

All because of him. He was so close now, to the point where he could have ripped her fairy dust pendant from her neck, just as he had once threatened to do. And yet, his coldly smug expression faltered, turning into something that he would never admit was bewilderment, even nervousness. He was vulnerable here, they both were, as they stood together in this place closer than two magical creatures could possibly be. 

Bloom closed her eyes, the weight of her sparkly eyeshadow just another heavy reminder of who she was and what she had to do. “I’m definitely not your partner, or your matching piece, or anything like that. But we’re… we’re a little like bookends, you and me. I understand that now. You’re the one who started this whole mess. But I’m not about to let this story have an unhappy ending.” 

Power thrummed in her ears, deafeningly loud, as she plucked her fairy dust pendant from her neck and pressed it to her lips, even as it gave off a blinding light that made Baltor stagger backwards.

_Like it or not, I’m your guardian fairy. Even if I’m incomplete, just let me reach out, just let me break through…._

Bloom didn’t flinch at the whooshing sound of a fireball heading straight for her. Instead she smiled, grabbed the lapels of his coat, and pulled him in for a kiss.


End file.
